Mrs. California Is Sweating It Out for National Crown

There she is, Mrs. California. Lifting weights. Pressing barbells. Pumping iron.

It’s not the kind of training a woman needed to become Mrs. America 30 years ago, but times have changed.

“We’re a very visual society. Mrs. America is going to have to be fit,” says Pamela Walker, the current Mrs. California from Laguna Hills, who will compete for the Mrs. America title in March.

“Women in the ‘90s have to be much more health- and fitness-conscious. The ideal shape is more athletic than the ‘50s hourglass. Women are much more stronger and more competitive.”

To gear up for the upcoming pageant, especially the swimsuit competition which she regards as the “health and fitness judging,” Walker has enlisted the services of a personal fitness trainer, Lou Gaudio, who will help whip her into optimum shape with his weight training program.

Not that she was any slouch before she took on a fitness trainer.

Every day, Walker, 32, performs 75 lunges to work her thighs, three sets of 25 push-ups (pushing up from her toes, not her knees) and 100 different types of abdominal crunches.

Both she and her husband, Monte, a former football player for the Atlanta Falcons, enjoy aerobics, running and tennis.

“As much as I enjoy sports, nothing changes the shape of my body as much as weight training,” Walker says. “I want muscle toning and strength.”

To the casual observer, Walker already looks fit to be crowned. At 5-foot-10 and 126 pounds, she has a slender but shapely figure complemented by a rich mane of wavy brown hair, big brown eyes and a perfect set of white teeth to flash at the judges’ table.

Yet, where others see a perfect 10, Walker sees room for improvement.

“Some areas I want to build up and some I want to reduce,” she says. “Hips and thighs, our center of gravity, are the hardest to keep toned. And I want to add muscle mass to my upper body.”

Muscle mass? Walker sounds as if she’s entering a bodybuilding competition, not a beauty pageant. Yet Gaudio, a personal trainer for seven years, says the judges won’t see any bulging biceps on Mrs. California.

“We train for shape,” he says. “She has a great physique. All we’re going to do is enhance what she already has.

“We might make her shoulders a little broader and add a little more shape to her calves and thighs, but all of the exercises I’m teaching here only produce tone.”

It’s hard to imagine a more agreeable student.

The second day of the new year, Walker arrives at Gaudio’s Dana Point studio for the first of 15 sessions, to be held four days a week for 90 minutes each until the pageant.

“Don’t hurt me,” she jokes as Gaudio places five-pound dumbbells in her hands.

While lying on her stomach on the bench, she holds the weights straight out from her sides for several seconds before lowering them to the floor. By repeating the exercise, she’ll build her triceps.

“Those things are heavy and that’s just 10 pounds--what a wimp!” she says.

Later, while sitting cross-legged on an upright bench, she raises a seven-pound barbell to her shoulders.

“How many of these do you want me to do?” she asks Gaudio.

“Oh, 16 to 18.”

“I can do it,” she says, showing the cool determination that helped earn her the Mrs. California crown. She completes 18. Her arms shake with the effort.

“I’ll be sore, but it will be a good sore,” says the beauty queen.

Walker finds a personal trainer’s guidance helpful because “he shows you the proper (training) position, he helps you work out the entire body and he provides encouragement. He also helps prevent injuries, and I can’t risk an injury right now.

“Plus, he’s promised me legs like I’ve never had before,” she says, laughing.

She wouldn’t have shapely legs, however, if she didn’t combine exercise with a sound diet.

Walker eats 1,500 calories a day, following a food-exchange program that calls for an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, complex carbohydrates such as brown rice and pasta, and smaller portions of meat, fish and poultry.

“I don’t believe in skipping meals and starving myself,” she says. “I’m not concerned with how much I weigh. I’m just changing inches.”

Walker knows she’ll need more than a tight tummy to win the Mrs. America title. The 50 contestants will be judged in four categories: bathing suit, beauty, evening gown and interview. The competition will take place during a two-week period in Las Vegas, leading up to a March 5 taped show at the Flamingo Hilton.

Although she welcomes someone to guide her around barbells and bench presses, Walker intends to handle other aspects of her pageant preparation by herself. “I’ve had experience in fashion and modeling, so I feel I know what I’m doing,” she says. “I’ve taken a modeling and career development class where they taught us about makeup and hair.”

Contestants are not allowed to bring professional makeup or hair artists to the pageant, but many work extensively with well-known pageant groomers. Walker prefers to do her own hair and makeup. “I want to be Pam Walker, not ‘so and so’s girl.’ I don’t want to be labeled as a groomer’s product. I’ve skipped that. I’m just going with my best look.”

Walker plans to wear her hair long, with a little extra curl for the occasion. She’ll wear her makeup slightly heavier than usual for the cameras, using matte colors that won’t appear shiny under the lights.

“There will be a lot of pretty women down there, but they need someone who can express herself and keep her cool,” Walker says.

As Mrs. California, Walker has had plenty of opportunity to practice poise. She has a four-page list of 52 media appearances she made during the first eight months of her reign, from attending a Real California Cheese Pizza promotion in San Francisco to judging a Most Beautiful Baby pageant in Mission Viejo.

She’s gained additional public relations experience through her job, selling home protection plans to the real estate industry, and through her volunteer work, including appearances for the American Heart Assn.’s “Just Say No” drug abuse prevention program, United Cerebral Palsy, and Project Self-Esteem. She also teaches cardiopulmonary resuscitation as a Basic Life Support instructor.

In November, 1988, she made up her mind to add the Mrs. America title to her resume.

“My husband encouraged me after we’d watched the Mrs. America pageant on TV,” she says.

“I decided I’d go for it. It gave me the incentive to trim off a few pounds and get in the best shape I’ve ever been in.”

She credits Monte, whom she married 3 1/2 years ago in Bermuda, with helping her win the state title. Monte works as a western area service manager for Coca-Cola USA and accompanies her on appearances and volunteer work.

“The important part of being Mrs. America is having a supportive husband,” Walker says. “Monte’s never complained. He put me and the title first.”

The Mrs. America pageant is the only nationally televised pageant for married women. Contestants must be at least 18, but most are in their mid-30s and a few women have been in their 50s. No air time for the syndicated show has been announced. Orange County viewers will need to consult their TV listings in early March to find out the pageant’s air date and time.

For Walker, the pageant can’t come soon enough. As she finishes her last dumbbell press of the day, she gasps for air and says, “Give me the crown. I’m ready.”